Prince is a crafty little bugger..

Here's me sitting here complaining that there's no local release in any country other than the US; complaining that P doesn't give a sh!t about OS fans (...which he clearly doesn't); complaining that I'll EVENTUALLY have to pay 3 times the amount for an import; complaining that local retailers have no idea when they'll receive their copies,.....when all the time I missed the bigger picture. Stupid me.

It seems that P clearly wants Lotusflow3r to be seen as a success, particularly given he's 'changed the gatekeepers'. So rather than giving every country a local release, every fan in every country has to buy an imported copy, than will count towards the sales, and therefore the charts, in the the US. It seems that he's willing to sacrafice chart success in other countries, while pissing off OS fans in the process, to guarantee chart success in one country.

Chart trickery, yet again. This time at the expense of every OS fan.

Nice.
[Edited 4/7/09 19:54pm]

TyphoonTip said:

I think the best way for you to get CDs is to ask a US fan such as myself to mail them to you. If you get about 5 prince fans together you can save on the shipping charges.

TyphoonTip said:

I'm an Australian living in Sinagpore & got the albums on the day of release via lotusflow3r.com & have been enjoying them for a solid 2 weeks now! So I don't see your issue unless you're not as die hard or can't afford to pay the US$77 for membership?

TyphoonTip said:

Interesting thought, but it depends where the exporters are buying them from. Are the copies we can buy in HMV in the UK being bought from Target stores in the US? I doubt it. If HMV are sourcing from a distributor in the US, then those sales probably don't count for the chart over there. But they might, does anyone know for sure?

TheEnglishGent said:

Are you able to purchase Lotusflow3r locally in England?

pplrain said:

Thanks for the offer. In fact I've had numerous very kind offers to send me a copy, but I'm locked in with a deposit @ a local store.

Anyway that's not really the point I was making, to be honeset I'm resigned to the fact I'm going to have to wait a while.

....It's more the reason behind the wait.

TheEnglishGent said:

You maybe right, and I'm not 100% sure. I just know P has put a lot of thought into skewing sales figures/charts over recent years.

I'm pretty sure that in Australia it's wholesale numbers that count towards chart numbers, not retail. If that's the case in the States, then P may be well on his way to having a #1 for a reasonable period of time.

...but @ what cost?!

TyphoonTip said:

pplrain said:

Good idea ...it´s so solidarity

so while you patiently wait you become bored. thats understandable

PEJ said:

So while you happily listen to your CDs you become condescending, that's not so understandable.

TyphoonTip said:

not condescending just amused at your chart trickery thoughts, don't trip

PEJ said:

Fair enough.

...
[Edited 4/7/09 23:25pm]

TyphoonTip said:

Chart trickery eh? How about sour graping? Can't u b happy that Prince has the #1 album right now? I'm xstatic!! And while I feel 4 u and other fans overseas who hasn't gotten the album-- there r ways 2 get it-- if u know what I mean-- and then buy it when it becomes available locally so u don't feel bad about "stealing" it.

Imago said:

why hold back dan?

Geez dude just but the damn cd off ebay from the USA. Mine arrived today

chillichocaholic said:

he's on lock down

PEJ said:

rainbowchild said:

In the end, I know I'm quibbling. And I'll also fess up to a few sour grapes. Guilty as charged.

I'll absolutely admit to a bit of frustration at the fact that I don't have the discs. But surely I can't be the only one who's a little miffed @ the fact that there are no local OS releases? Am I taking it too far by thinking there's something amiss in P's thinking that he's only really catered for the US, while the rest of the world can sort themselves out? Seems a relatively normal and obvious question. No?

As far as the charts go, of course I'm happy that P's got a #1 in the US. But it's also kinda cool to see him in your local charts. Now that's not going to happen.

If he didn't want to do the normal distribution thing, which I completely respect, then why couldn't his people have arranged a similar target deal in strategic retailers in Europe, Asia etc...

I just think these are fair questions, that are quite reasonable to ask, that's all. As for my OP, it's just a theory, who knows. Prince does having history of melding with the numbers!

...and by the way, I feel more than comfortable with the 'stealing?!' that I've done as a consequence.

pplrain said:

It's been reported that it's now in at HMV, at least in the Oxford Street branch anyway. They're selling at at the ridiculous price of £29.99.
Which is approximately $44!

TyphoonTip said:

When I heard about the CD's being released in Target I went online fot the Australian Target, only to find out our Target is NOT affiliated with the USA so I have to admitt I was a little pissed...but where there is a will there's a way I figured I was just going to have to bite the bullet and get mine from ebay instead because really if it was sold here it would probably cost us $40 AU for a three cd set anyway
So Mine cost me around $30 AU (including postage) from the USA and arrived today. And Im actually wondering if Prince knows that Target AUstralia is not affiliated with the USA branch at all

I really don't think that's the reason it got to #1.

Just a question .

It's no different than when the labels claim that "Artist X" sold 1 million copies when in reality it was a million copies sent to the retail outlets.


BTW hope you get to hear it soon.

NouveauDance said:

A friend is a manager in a (the) major music retailer in Australia. He said that their Australia wide stock of Lotusflow3r will be directly sourced from Target US. Now that may well be wholesale, but that still, would it not, impact on US charts? I mean 'sales' are not a count of how many people physically buy a copy, but rather how many are sold to retail outlets. In this case Target is both the wholesaler, and the only retailer.

I could be wrong, and am quite happy to be corrected, but it's an interesting thought.

TyphoonTip said:

I would have thought you must be wrong since the number sold by target is an odd one, you would expect a rounded number if they were bought wholesale. Added to that you would think they could have reported their sales figures much earlier if that was the case since surely they got all their stocks to their stores for day 1?

I thought this too. But seriously how many people have joined Lotusflow3r? We can all guess but does anyone know? And would official sources tell the truth if it is lower than they would like?

muleFunk said:

I work for one of the largest drinks companies in the world and a sale is classed as one made to the distributor not one made over the counter. A very different beast but when the money is added up it makes not a jot of difference. $ £ € it's all the same.

Whatever, but I bet it'll work. Not that Prince has to stoop to trickery to get your attention.

TyphoonTip said:

I don't think that's true, though if it is it means that the US charts are calculated
VERY differently to the UK ones. In the UK it's actual sales to the consumer
that count, not sales to the retailer.